พฤติกรรมการท่องเที่ยวของนักท่องเที่ยวชาวจีนในสถานที่ยอดนิยมของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่

Abstract

The present study aims to understand tourist behavior of Chinese visitors with respect to the top-rated tourist attractions in Chiang Mai Province and to assess their satisfaction with various tourism service features. Totally 400 samples of ethnic Chinese tourists identified by accidently sampling method were interviewed through questionnaire format for the needed information. The analysis was performed upon the results of descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, and arithmetic mean, chi-square test, and logit model application using maximum likelihood estimation technique. On general background of the Chinese tourists, it was found that the majority of questionnaire respondents were characterized as female, 31 -40 years old, single, with bachelor’s degree education, student by occupation, having monthly income in 13,001 – 26,000 baht bracket, and having main interest in historical/cultural tourism for their present visit to Chiang Mai. Most of them visited Chiang Mai for the first time for pleasure, traveled with friends as a group, managed and arranged their travel plan and programs themselves, and obtained necessary holiday and tourism information from friends or acquaintances. The tourism type drawing them to visit Chiang Mai was basically that of historical and cultural. They made international travel by air. They spent 4 – 7 days’ length of stay in Chiang Mai, staying overnight at hotel, and spending totally not exceeding 13,000 baht for the whole visit. Their most desirable food choice while in Chiang Mai was local northern dishes and most sought-after souvenir to buy back home was dried/preserved/processed fruits. With respect to the nine popular or well-known tourist attractions in Chiang Mai Province, most of the sampled Chinese tourists under study admitted they had no previous experience visiting these places. However, their three most common priority choices to visit in descending order were Sunday Walking Street (Tha Pae Gate) for more than one hour, Night Bazaar for 31 minutes – one hour, and Phra That Doi Suthep Temple also for 31 minutes – one hour. The assessment on satisfaction of Chinese tourists with their present visit to Chiang Mai revealed the high level of overall satisfaction. The most important factor contributing to high satisfaction was product particularly the adventure tourism program at Mae Sa elephant camp followed by relaxation health treatments like spa services and traditional Thai massage, and safety in tourists’ life and belongings while visiting Chiang Mai. The next most important factor was price primarily for the reasonable price/cost/fee for goods and services offered in Chiang Mai compared to quality, followed by the availability of a wide range of accommodation rate and package tour program price. The third most important factor was place or marketing channel in the present context for the primary attribute that bookings for hotel accommodation and various sight-seeing programs could be made through internet with different agencies, followed by the service quality of travel agents and tour companies in Chiang Mai Province, and tourism information and other services about tourism in Chiang Mai Province provided by various agencies. Also important but to a lesser extent was the factor of promotion especially through the organization of tourism exhibition programs in Chiang Mai which was trailed by advertisement through such media as television, internet, and magazine, as well as sale promotion campaigns like discount rates for the stay or tourism activities in Chiang Mai offered by different businesses or agencies. The test on the relationship between personal background and tourist behavior of Chinese visitors in this study indicated that the factors of age, education, occupation, and income would have effect on the choice regarding the popular tourist attractions to visit, the length of time to spend at each selected tourist attraction, and the advice for other people to visit the nine top-rated tourist attractions in Chiang Mai Province. It was also found that the Chinese tourists’ intention to revisit Chiang Mai had relationship with their level of satisfaction with the present visit. From the estimation by a logit model, the Chinese tourists who had advised others to visit the nine most popular tourist attractions in Chiang Mai appeared to find the price factor 48.4 % and the place factor 9.3 % higher than those who had not done so. Meanwhile, the Chinese tourists in the category of potential repeat visitor to the nine top-rated tourist attractions in Chiang Mai Province found the place factor 53.8 % and the promotion factor 7.4 % higher than the otherwise group.